Get Your Accounts Ready

Is it possible to use codex as an alternative route? Or do you find the results with claude max to be better than codex?

For this live course, I recommend sticking with Claude Code since the exercises and workflows are built around its features.

That said, yes, Codex is a viable alternative — so what you learn here will make you better with either tool.

What is the benefit to the Max plan for this course in particular? I’m assuming you are expecting us to burn through a lot of tokens? Or something different? Just asking since I have pro but would rather not upgrade to max without knowing why its recommended. Thank you! :)

Hi Samantha, That’s a fair question! The main reason is peace of mind rather than a hard requirement. (If others are wondering the same, then I’ll definitely will make this more clear in the text)

I’ll show you how to work thoughtfully with the context window so you’re not burning through tokens unnecessarily. But we’ll do quite a bit hands-on coding over two days, so the chances with Max are higher for staying in the flow without any interruptions.

That said, if you’re comfortable with the small risk of an occasional slowdown, Pro will likely be fine for most of the session!

Thanks for the clarity Philipp!

I have a Pro Plan but also a Developer API account. If the plan is not enough, I can switch to the API Key usage. Is that fine?

With that setup, you’ve got more backup than I do 😄

That should work perfectly!

Hi Phillip, would you believe that Anthropic is not taking ANY of my Canadian credit cards right now? I can’t sign up for any of the paid plans. And Anthropic is customer service is likely non-existant on weekends. Do you have any suggestions?

Oh no, how annoying! Does a different payment option work maybe? If not, please reach out to me via philipp@realpython.com

HAHAHA Never mind! The system accepted my payment on a month to month plan (I was trying to sign up for an annual plan). I guess they want less money from me. I’m in! Thank you Phillip!

Hmmm…I’m using a work computer which is blocking Claude Code. My work provides VS Code with Github Copilot and Claude installed. I was hoping to use that setup for this course. After doing more reading I see Claude Code is different than VSCode with Claude.

Am I going to have to switch to a personal computer and use Claude Code and pay for a subscription? Will this course learning translate to VSCode and Github Copilot with Claude?

I went ahead ancreated a personal Claude Pro account, and github account to do the course on a personal machine.

Hi there, I’m happy that you went ahead and got yourself a personal Claude Pro account. That way you’ll be able to follow exactly what I show in the live course.

That being said, everything you’ll learn will translate smoothly into your usage with Claude Code in VS Code and probably even Copilot.

I assumed that a temporary Claude access would be provided in the course. Since Claude subscriptions cost money, it should be stated as an expected cost on the course page. It’s very unwelcome to start setting up for the course to find out on the first page that I should shell out extra money.

Hey there, thanks for flagging this, and sorry for the unwelcome surprise!

You’re right that the Claude subscription is a separate cost, and we should make it more visible on the course page. It’s mentioned in the FAQ, but it’s worth highlighting up top too.

A couple of options if you’d like to continue:

• Claude Pro is the minimum required, and it’s what I used when I took the course myself — no issues (see Anthropic’s pricing page for current rates in your region).

• If you’d rather not pay for a subscription on top, please email info@realpython.com and we’ll process a full refund right away — no questions, you are well within our 14-day guarantee window. Either way, thanks for letting us know. Feedback like this is how the course page gets better!